ARABIC-L: LING: More "zalama"

[Dilworth B. Parkinson]

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Arabic-L: Tue 09 Mar 1999
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1) Subject: On "zalamah" again!
2) Subject: /zole/ from a different root

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1)
Date: 09 Mar 1999
From: Muhammad Deeb <mdeeb at gpu.srv.ualberta.ca>
Subject: On "zalamah" again!

On "zalamah" again!

	The word "Zalamah" continues to have its attraction and thus keeps
our linguists both intrigued and busy!  As I'm equally intrigued, may I add
a few more touches to my earlier post on the subject?  Below are a few
passing comments.

    ---------------------------------------------------------------------
    [NB: In this electronic medium, I use the symbol "@" for the gutteral
         letter "@ayn" as in "@ilm" (= science or knowledge);
	 the lower-case "z" for the zaay / zayn as in "zayt"
         (= oil) and the upper-case Z for the strongly
	 articulated palatal "Zaa'" as in "Zill"
         (= shade)].
         ----------

  > Ernest, I think there is a little misunderstanding. [ZaLama -Yazlumu]
  > "Z" is "zha" or "Ttah" with a dot on it. Zalami, is the letter "Za/Zayn"
  > or "Ra" with dot on it ;-)

*** No, there isn't any misunderstanding.  Professor McCarus and I quoted
    correctly Adrien Barthelemy's *Dictionnaire arabe-francais,*
    (Paris, 1935).  The root "zlm" (zaay, laam, miim) lends
    itself to a variety of verbal forms:

-- (a) triliteral:
       zalama; imperfect: yazlumu = to fill up (a vessel or a trough);

-- (b) derived forms:
       izlamma 		= 	to depart / to leave in a hurry ;
       izla'amma 	= 	to rise / to get on one's feet/
                                to be or become "erect,"
				likely in all senses.

  > BTW, Yazlumu [sic] means to mistreat, or not to be fair to.

*** The word in question "zalama" has nothing to do with "Zalama" /
    "yaZlimu" (= to oppress or treat unjustly).

  > A possible variant of this ZLM construction is a term I heard used
  > similarly in Khartoum, Sudan: "zole" (pronounced as in English "mole"
  > or "poll")

*** In my earlier post on the subject, I noted that "zalamah" in Levantine
    Arabic dialects has as its counterparts "gada@" and "zuul" (pronounced
    as mall or as correctly suggested above) in colloquial Arabic in Egypt
    and the Sudan respectively.  "Zuul" comes from classical Arabic "zawl,"
    plu. "azwaal" (= appearance, phantom, silhouette, mirage).

    With all due respect, I should like to point out that the Sudanese
    "zuul" is not a variant of "zalamah;" as the two words are
    morphologically independent from each other, and derive
    from unrelated entries.

						M. Deeb

-------------------------------------
Department of Comparative Literature,
University of Alberta,
Edmonton, Alberta,
Canada T6G 2E6

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2)
Date: 09 Mar 1999
From: MOHAMMED M JIYAD <mmjiyad at unix.amherst.edu>
Subject: /zole/ from a different root

MarHaban,

This is a fellow up on Stephen H. Franke's comment vis-a-vis /zalama/. I
believe that the word /zole/ comes from a different root and has a
different meaning, in spite of the fact that it is used in the Sudanese
dialect to mean "man". I believe that /zole/ comes from the root
/Saa'-waw-laam/ and the word /Sawl/ means "an aggressive man". It is also
used to describe a male camel that exhibits aggressive behavior such as
chasing, biting and bucking people or other animals.

Best.

Mohammed Jiyad

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End of Arabic-L: 09 Mar 1999